Mahsa Amini

On September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini, died at the age of 22 in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious morality police of Iran’s government, arrested Amini for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards. According to eyewitnesses, Amini was severely beaten by Guidance Patrol officers—an assertion denied by Iranian authorities. The accounts of police brutality, in addition to leaked medical scans, led some observers to believe Amini had a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke due to head injuries received after her arrest. Amini’s death resulted in a series of international protests which began hours after Amini’s death, starting at the hospital in Tehran where she was treated and quickly spreading to other parts of the country and the world. Some female demonstrators removed their hijab or publicly cut their hair as acts of protest. 

Iran Human Rights reported that by the beginning of November 2022, at least 304 people had been killed by security forces attacking protests across the country, involving tear gas and live rounds, making the protests the deadliest since the 2019–2020 protests that resulted in more than 1,500 fatalities. Iran’s attorney general indicated that the law requiring women to wear a hijab in public is under review, though, recent reports of violence and a potential new bill slated to impose even stricter punishments suggest otherwise.